It is common practice to provide, for example in supermarkets and other retail outlets, dispensers for dispensing pre-formed bags (e.g. plastic bags) from a stack of such bags.
In one known arrangement, plastic bags are each provided in a stack with a so-called "lip", i.e. a circumferential web of plastic extending beyond the rim of the bag, the rim being defined by a line of weakness (e.g. a line of perforations) between the bag and the lip. By securing ("blocking") the lips together the stack of bags is formed and individual bags can be detached from the stack by pulling the top bag of the stack until the line of weakness holding it to the stack breaks. An example of such an arrangement is shown in PCT patent application Ser. No. WO-93/08720, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Such stacks are typically suspended from the blocked lips by a variety of simple means, e.g. hanging from hooks, pegs, pieces of string, etc. Light gauge bags are typically used to package small goods bought at stationers, news agents, pharmacies, confectioners and some parts of department stores or supermarkets. Therefore, there is a need for a dispensing system that enables shop assistants to obtain a single bag quickly and efficiently, and in a way that provides an open bag in the shop assistant's hand.
The known dispensing systems suffer from the general disadvantage that plastic bags are not particularly easy to grasp. Electrostatic charges can build up on them, causing neighbouring bags to stick together and the act of grasping a bag from a stack is not always easy, particularly under conditions of work pressure. Some shop assistants have tried to overcome this problem by licking their fingers before grasping a bag, but this practice is unsatisfactory, unhygienic and not particularly effective.
It is an aim of the present invention to go at least some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages, or at least to provide an acceptable alternative to the known arrangements, which is applicable to all types of bag, whether of light or heavier gauge plastic or with or without handles.